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Ranking John Cena’s Greatest WrestleMania Matches

By Ernesto Solano

MIAMI GARDENS, FL - APRIL 1: John Cena looks on before his match against Dwayne ''The Rock'' Johnson during WrestleMania XXVIII at Sun Life Stadium on April 1, 2012 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Ron Elkman/Sports Imagery/Getty Images)
MIAMI GARDENS, FL - APRIL 1: John Cena looks on before his match against Dwayne ''The Rock'' Johnson during WrestleMania XXVIII at Sun Life Stadium on April 1, 2012 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Ron Elkman/Sports Imagery/Getty Images) /
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WM 31: John Cena vs. Rusev for the United States Championship (2015)

Perhaps more marvelous than “The Super Athlete’s” performance in this match was his entrance. He arrived in a tank! Enough said. I respect Rusev because I know that if I made my entrance in a tank, you couldn’t possibly get me to work an actual match only minutes after. My mind would be so fixated on the fact that I just arrived in a TANK to care about my match. (Clip is skipped to Rusev’s tank entrance)

Despite his relative inexperience on the main roster, Rusev was the precursor for Cena’s legendary reign as the United States Champion in 2015. Experimentation was an important element to Cena’s Open Challenge run, and this match with Rusev gave him the chance to begin his path towards reinventing his own wrestling style.

The action was crisp, except for the always-sloppy execution of Cena’s Springboard Stunner (should I ever attempt anything as athletic requiring that much coordination, I might tear something, so maybe I should shut up?), which he debuted in this match. Nevertheless, It wasn’t awkward enough to detract from the match’s overall quality.

WM 29: John Cena vs. The Rock for the WWE Championship (2013)

I’m not sure what the general consensus on the two Rock vs. Cena matches is, but it would surprise me to learn that people don’t regard the rematch as being much better. This match did not carry the same gravitas as their first encounter did, no matter what was at stake, but Cena and Rock worked to ensure they outdid themselves. It helped that Rock’s conditioning improved from the year before and that he didn’t suffer a debilitating injury this time.

Despite having muscles on their muscles, Cena and Rock were masters of timing and execution here. There were a few stretches in this match where both competitors slid in and out of counters; These sequences were so mesmerizing to me that I momentarily forgot these dudes were heavyweights. The callback in this match to ‘Mania XXVII the year before, wherein Cena made the audience believe he would make the same mistake that cost him in his first match with Rock, was very well-done. Cena got his win back and now we wait for the trilogy match, right?

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